Potent Pleasures (Enchanged Pleasures) [Hardcover]

Eloisa James (Author)

Book Description

Series: Enchanged Pleasures | Publication Date: August 10, 1999

Eloisa James breathes new life into one of the most popular fiction genres with her highly original debut novel Potent Pleasures, a charming, vividly peopled Regency romance. With an uncanny wit and an eye for the whimsical, she unravels a complex--and often hilarious--chain of events inadvertently set in motion by a young woman's first taste of forbidden pleasure.

About to make her debut in London society, Charlotte Calverstill, beneath the lavish gowns and manners of a well-brought-up young lady, yearns for a taste of freedom. Pushing propriety aside, one evening she sneaks out with a friend to attend a masked ball, and there meets a devastatingly handsome stranger who relieves her--not against her wishes--of her virtue, then vanishes.

Years later, when they meet again, the rogue does not remember Charlotte. But she certainly remembers him; she has since learned not only his identity, but also a titillating piece of gossip about him that is sure to set society abuzz. The intricate web that a now-wiser Charlotte weaves to exact her due ensures justice for some and great merriment for all.

Taking the Regency historical to fresh new places, with artful smoothness and irrepressible humor, Eloisa James delivers a winsome tale of first love and life's unexpected surprises.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When the young Lady Charlotte Caverstill attends a local masked ball while on holiday in the countryside, she has no intention of dishonoring herself. But a handsome man ignites an unknown passion in her, and she finds herself willingly following him into the shadows of the garden. Before the night is over, Charlotte has surrendered her heart, as well as her virginity, to this man whom she doesn't know.

Though Alex McDonough Foakes spends the entire summer trying to track down the mysterious maiden from the masquerade ball, he cannot find her. Sent to Italy, he seeks solace in an ill-fated marriage, and returns years later a father, a widower, and a pessimist in love. When Alex meets Charlotte, he falls madly in love with her--despite his inability to recognize her--and proposes. She refuses. How can she marry a man who does not remember her after such an intimacy? And if she does, how can she explain her lack of virginity?

In this, her debut novel, author Eloise James takes special care to test and develop her characters in different situations. Unlike books with the familiar cart-before-the-horse plot, James does not restrict her characters to the bedroom; as Charlotte and Alex interact with friends and family in different arenas, they become more realistic and interesting. And though their motives are not always believable, the lovers appear to be a part of a greater world--one that will quickly capture the reader's imagination. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien

From Publishers Weekly

Is he or isn't he? That's the question on London society's collective mind in this slow-starting but ultimately satisfying Regency romance. Alexander Foakes, earl of Sheffield and Downes, allowed his Italian wife, Maria, to divorce him on grounds that he was impotent, but now he turns up with a baby daughter he claims is his child by Maria, who kept Pippa's birth a secret until she was dying. Charlotte Calverstill, the unmarried Lady Daicheston, can't believe he is impotentAafter all, he "ruined" her in a garden three years ago before leaving for ItalyAbut Alex doesn't seem to remember their tryst. Nonetheless, he is smitten with the new Charlotte in her trend-setting French gowns, and since Alex requires a mother for Pippa, Charlotte is his choice. Charlotte is less than thrilled that her first lover doesn't even remember their unplanned assignation, but her hormones are drawing her back to Alex, who desperately wants a virgin bride after the debacle of his previous marriage. Thus, the stage is set for surprises all around, though dedicated Regency readers will spot developments well in advance. There are a few unexpected twists, however, and James introduces several well-integrated subplots for variety. As an independent woman with kind and understanding parents who wouldn't dream of pressuring her to marry, Charlotte may not be a realistic representative of her era, but she is an engaging heroine. The depth of characterizations, the steady progression of the plot and the tongue-in-cheek title will attract readers who may just greet James as the next Amanda Quick. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (August 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385333609
• ISBN-13: 978-0385333603
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa's very first book that she "found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar"; later People Magazine raved that "romance writing does not get much better than this." Eloisa wrote her first novel after graduating from Harvard, but alas, it was rejected by every possible publisher. After she got an M.Phil. from Oxford, a Ph.D. from Yale, and a job as a Shakespeare professor, she tried again, with much greater success. Currently she teaches Shakespeare in the English Department at Fordham University in New York City. She's also the mother of two children and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hardcover vs. paperback- there is a difference!, May 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Potent Pleasures (Mass Market Paperback)

I read the "Potent Pleasure" and I enjoyed the story very much. After reading it, I came online here to read the reviews of other people. I was amazed to see both wonderful and very terrible reviews. I began reading the 1-2 stars reviews and I discovered that the historical errors the "unhappy" readers talked about were not present it my "Potent Pleasures" book. I was confused and I truly thought that the 1-2 stars reviews must be talking about a different book than I read. I even went back to try to find the numerous historical errors which other people found, but I couldn't find them. Anyway, finally I figured the puzzle out. Apparently, I am the first one to be reviewing the paperback version of this story (which came out in May 2000) and I can tell you that the story errors, that the other readers pointed out, have been cleaned up and/or rewritten before the paperbacks went into print.

This is Eloisa James's first novel and on the whole I found the story to be very interesting and enjoyable. However, I am surprised that an unknown author would have had her first historical romance novel printed in a hardcover book. If I had purchased the $20.00 version of the book and found all the initial errors in the story, I too would have been upset. But for $6.00 the revised softcover version it well worth the money. It's a good story, and I am looking forward to Ms. James next "paperback" book. This new author has alot of potential!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plenty wrong, but couldn't put it down., March 18, 2006

By 

Janet (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Potent Pleasures (Mass Market Paperback)

I felt I had to write a review with the several scathing reviews already written. There are too many characters and the author tends to go off on a tangent with many of them. The first meeting between Alex and Charlotte WAS slutty. How could he have sex with a complete stranger and it supposedly mean a lot to him, yet he never recognizes Charlotte later. I found myself skimming over the too long paragraphs that had little to nothing to do with the plot. HOWEVER, these problems were mostly in the first half. I nearly put the book away to never finish it. I am glad I stuck with it. The second half is what grabbed me and didn't let me put it down till finished. The second half of the book is emotionally wrenching and moves along swiftly. The ending saved the book for me. The birth scene was heartbreaking and the love scene 2 months later was redeeming for Alex.
If you can plod through the first half, you will enjoy the second half enough to make it worthwhile.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with historical innacuracies!, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Potent Pleasures (Enchanged Pleasures) (Hardcover)

This book was so poorly written I don't quite know where to begin. Since the author is a PHD in English, I suppose I'll begin there. The text is chock full of unnecessary colons, semi-colons, and exclamation points. At one point the heroine sees her mother's (the duchess), carriage arriving to pick her up from finishing school and she notes that the footmen are all 'in livery!'. I would think that it would be more remarkable if they were not in livery. The fact that they are in livery would not be a surprise to Charlotte. Colons and semicolons are even used in the dialogue, where it would have been far more appropriate to use dashes or dots.

There are also a couple of dangling participles with unintentionally humorous results. "Gasping, her eyes stared up into the dark leaves." is one that is particularly bad.

Here is a description of Charlotte (taken from the book).

'Just now the rage was for blondes: blondes with curly locks and blue eyes, but Charlotte had jet-black hair, her mama thought despairingly. She did have green eyes, but her skin was so white -- not a drop of color. True, with some coaxing her hair formed perfect ringlets, and her skin was creamy, but she was no pertly sweet debutante. Her eyebrows arched like question marks over eyes as green as the ocean on a cloudy day. In fact, her whole face was pointed like a question mark: Her chin formed a delicate triangle that simply led back to her eyes and those flying eyebrows.'

Her face was pointed like a question mark? Also, all through the book we hear about her flying eyebrows, and the hero's flying eyebrows (yes, he has them too) and the hero's daughter's flying eyebrows. Their eyebrows fly up in surprise too! A lot!

And then there is the problem of the plot being based on a misunderstanding that could have been cleared up with one sentence. "I was the girl you made love to at the Hooker's ball." Instead, the hero won't let the heroine explain, and he behaves so terribly I was surprised that she didn't shoot him rather than take him back. He called her a whore on more than one occasion.

Regency fans will want to avoid this book at all costs. The year is 1799, yet at the ball they are dancing the waltz, which had not been invented yet, and wouldn't be for at least another 10 years. In another passage, the hero is wearing pajamas. A nightshirt would be the appropriate bed attire for the time, since pajamas would not be worn for at least a hundred years. Also, there is the problem of innapropriate dialogue for the time. At one point the heroine says, 'thanks' and a paragraph later, 'Forget about it'. She sounded vaguely like the Italian mobster Regency Lady.

I could list more problems, but I hope you get the idea.